HR: 16:30h
AN: IN24A-01    [Abstracts]
TI: Semantic e-Science: From Microformats to Models
AU: * Lumb, L I
EM: ian@yorku.ca
AF: Computing and Network Services, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
AU: Freemantle, J R
EM: james.freemantle@rogers.com
AF: Earth & Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
AU: Aldridge, K D
EM: keith@yorku.ca
AF: Earth & Space Science and Engineering, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
AB: A platform has been developed to transform semi-structured ASCII data into a representation based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). A subsequent transformation allows the XML-based representation to be rendered in the Resource Description Format (RDF). Editorial metadata, expressed as external annotations (via XML Pointer Language), also survives this transformation process (e.g., Lumb et al., http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2008.03.009). Because the XML-to-RDF transformation uses XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations), semantic microformats ultimately encode the scientific data (Lumb & Aldridge, http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/HPCS.2006.26). In building the relationship-centric representation in RDF, a Semantic Model of the scientific data is extracted. The systematic enhancement in the expressivity and richness of the scientific data results in representations of knowledge that are readily understood and manipulated by intelligent software agents. Thus scientists are able to draw upon various resources within and beyond their discipline to use in their scientific applications. Since the resulting Semantic Models are independent conceptualizations of the science itself, the representation of scientific knowledge and interaction with the same can stimulate insight from different perspectives. Using the Global Geodynamics Project (GGP) for the purpose of illustration, the introduction of GGP microformats enable a Semantic Model for the GGP that can be semantically queried (e.g., via SPARQL, http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-sparql-query). Although the present implementation uses the Open Source Redland RDF Libraries (http://librdf.org/), the approach is generalizable to other platforms and to projects other than the GGP (e.g., Baker et al., Informatics and the 2007-2008 Electronic Geophysical Year, Eos Trans. Am. Geophys. Un., 89(48), 485-486, 2008).
DE: 1239 Earth rotation variations
DE: 1294 Instruments and techniques
DE: 1299 General or miscellaneous (1709)
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
DE: 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields
SC: Earth and Space Science Informatics [IN]
MN: 2009 Joint Assembly